The film is loosely based on a magazine article, titled "Racer X", about street clubs that race Japanese cars late at night. Elite street racer and ex-convict Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew: Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Leon (Johnny Strong), Vince (Matt Schulze) and Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), are under suspicion of stealing expensive electronic equipment. Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an undercover police officer who attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment. He worked for FBI agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) and LAPD officer Tanner (Ted Levine).

Falling for Dominic's younger sister, Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Brian later confesses to her his status as an undercover cop and convinces her to come with him to save her brother and his friends from the truck drivers, who have now armed themselves to combat the robberies. He tracks Dominic's location by triangulating his cell phone signal and they arrive at the hijacking in-progress to find Letty, badly injured at the car accident, and Vince critically wounded, having lacerated his arm and been shot by the truck driver. Brian and Mia work together with Dominic, Leon and Letty to rescue Vince. Brian then makes the difficult decision to blow his cover to the crew by phoning in for a medivac. The revelation enrages Dominic, but he contains himself and flees with Leon, Letty and Mia as the medivac arrives for Vince.

Brian follows Dominic to his house and holds him at gunpoint to prevent him from fleeing. Jesse arrives shortly afterwards, apologizing for his actions at Race Wars and pleading for Dominic's help with Johnny Tran (Rick Yune). Moments later, Tran and his cousin Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) perform a drive-by shooting, killing Jesse. Brian and Dominic chase them, with Dominic driving his late father's modified 1970 Dodge Charger. Dominic forces Lance's motorcycle off the road, severely injuring him, while Brian shoots and kills Tran. Afterwards, Brian and Dominic engage in an impromptu street race, narrowly avoiding a passing train. Dominic collides with a semi-truck and rolls his car twice, injuring himself, and rendering the Charger un-drivable. Instead of arresting him, Brian hands over the keys to his Supra and lets Dominic escape, using the line "I owe you a ten second car". After the credits, Dominic is seen driving through Baja California, Mexico in a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS.

Watched by undercover Customs Agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), Brian is caught by US Customs agents and is given a deal by agents Bilkins and Markham (James Remar) to go undercover and try to bring down drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) in exchange for the erasure of his criminal record. Brian agrees but only if he is given permission to choose his partner, refusing to partner with the agent assigned to watch him. Brian heads home to Barstow, California, where he recruits Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), a childhood friend of Brian who had served jail time and is under house arrest, to help him. Pearce agrees, but only for the same deal Brian was offered, and with the help of Monica, Brian and Roman work together to take down Verone. After acquiring confiscated vehicles and being hired by Verone as his drivers, the duo return to a Customs/FBI hideout, where Roman confronts Markham over the latter's interference with the mission. After the situation is cooled down, Brian tells Bilkins and Markham that Verone plans to smuggle the money into his private jet and fly off, but also suspects something wrong with Monica's role in the mission.

Sometime later, Brian and Roman race two other would-be Verone drivers for their cars and begin to devise a personal back up plan if the operation goes awry. Roman confronts Brian about his attraction to Monica and the constant threat of Verone's men. On the day of the mission, Brian and Roman begin transporting duffel bags of Verone's money, with Enrique (Mo Gallini) and Roberto (Roberto Sanchez) riding along. Before the 15-minute window is set, the detective in charge, Whitworth (Mark Boone, Jr.), decides to call in the police to move in for the arrest, resulting in a high-speed chase across the city. The duo lead the police to a warehouse, where a scramble by dozens of street racers disorient the police. Following the scramble, police manage to pull over the Evo and the Eclipse, only to find out that they were driven by two members of Brian's new crew, Tej Parker (Ludacris) and Suki (Devon Aoki), respectively.

As Brian approaches the destination point, Enrique tells him to make a detour away from the airfield. Meanwhile, Roman gets rid of Roberto by using an improvised ejector seat powered by nitrous oxide. At the airfield, Customs Agents have Verone's plane and convoy surrounded, only to discover they are duped into a decoy maneuver while Verone is at a boat yard several miles away. As he knew Monica was an undercover agent, he gave her the wrong information on the destination point and plans to use her as leverage. When Brian arrives at the intended drop-off point, Enrique prepares to kill him when Roman suddenly appears and the both of them dispatch of Enrique. Verone makes his escape aboard his private yacht, but Brian and Roman use the Camaro and drive off a ramp at high-speed, crashing on top of the yacht. The duo manage to apprehend Verone and save Monica. With their crimes pardoned, Brian and Roman ponder on what to do next other than to settle in Miami when Brian mentions starting a garage. Roman asks how they would afford that and Brian reveals that he took some of the money, as Roman also reveals that his pockets aren't empty, having taken money for himself.

After totaling his car in an illegal street race, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is sent to live in Tokyo, Japan, with his father, a U.S. Navy officer, in order to avoid juvie or even jail. While in school, he befriends Twinkie (Bow Wow), a "military brat" who introduces him to the world of drift racing in Japan. Though forbidden to drive, he decides to race against Takashi (Brian Tee) aka D.K. (Drift King) who has ties to the Yakuza. He borrows a Nissan Silvia from Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang), now a business partner to Takashi, and loses, totaling the car because of his lack of knowledge of drifting - racing that involves dangerous hairpin turns. To repay his debt for the car he destroyed, Sean must work for Han. Later on, Han becomes friends with Sean and teaches the young racer how to drift. Takashi's uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba) (the head of the Yakuza) admonishes Takashi for allowing Han to steal from him. Takashi confronts Han, Sean and Neela (Nathalie Kelley), whereupon they flee. During the chase, Han is killed in an accident in his Veilside Mazda RX-7 and Takashi, Sean and his father become involved in an armed standoff which is resolved by Neela agreeing to leave with Takashi. Twinkie provides his saved money to Sean to make up for Han's stolen money which Sean returns to Kamata. Sean proposes a race against Takashi to determine who must leave Tokyo. Sean and Han's friends then build a Ford Mustang '67, with a Nissan Skyline inline 6 engine and other spare parts. Sean wins the race. Later, Sean is challenged by an unnamed driver: Dominic Toretto.

Dominic and his new crew (Letty, Han, Leo, Santos and Cara) are hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. Dominic begins to suspect the trail is too hot and leaves Letty behind in order to protect her from harm. Several weeks later, in Panama City, Dominic gets a call from Mia, who tells him that Letty has been murdered by Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonso), after getting into a near fatal car accident. Dominic heads back to Los Angeles to examine Letty's crash and finds traces of nitro-methane. He then goes to the only car mechanic that uses nitro-methane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park (Ron Yuan), the man who ordered the fuel.

Meanwhile, F.B.I. agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga (John Ortiz). His search leads him to David Park. Dominic arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was also on his way to Park's place, saves Park who now becomes the FBI's new informant. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles. Brian selects a modifiedNissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the Impound Lot. Dominic also shows up to race in his modified 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), the liaison for Braga, reveals that the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the United States-Mexico border. Dominic wins by bumping Brian's car, making him lose control. Brian uses his power as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes), and takes his place on the team.

The following day, the team meets one of the Braga's men. They drive across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian had prior knowledge that, after the heroin was delivered, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed. However it was revealed to Dominic from Fenix that he killed Letty and after a tense stand-off, Dominic detonates his car with nitrous to distract Braga's men and Brian hijacks a Hummer with US$60 million worth of heroin. Both Dominic and Brian drive back to Los Angeles and hide the heroin in a police impound lot where Brian picks up a modified Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Later on, Dominic finds out Brian was the last person to contact Letty, which results in him being attacked by Dominic until he learns Letty was working undercover for Brian, tracking down Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic's name. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic's pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin. At the drop site, however, Ramon Campos (Robert Miano), the man who claims to be "Braga", is revealed as a decoy, and "Campos", the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.

Brian and Dominic travel to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga's henchmen come down to rescue their leader, Brian and Dominic drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. When some of Braga's men are killed, Brian crashes his car and is injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dominic, who survived the explosion and exchanged his 1970 Dodge Charger with a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, drives into and kills Fenix. As police and helicopters start streaming to the crash site on the USA side, Brian tells Dominic to leave, but Dominic refuses, saying he's tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to 25 years to life. Dominic boards a prison bus that will take him to Lompoc penitentiary and as the bus drives down the road, Brian and Mia, along with Leo and Santos (who assisted in the Dominican Republic heists), arrive in their cars to intercept it.

Following the events of Fast & Furious, when Dominic is being transported to a U.S. prison, Mia and Brian lead an assault on the bus, causing it to crash and free Dominic. While authorities search for them, the trio escape to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Awaiting Dominic’s arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. The job goes awry when Brian and Mia discover the train is carrying DEA agents and that the cars are seized property. When Dominic arrives with the rest of the participants, he realizes that one of them, Zizi is only interested in stealing one car: the Ford GT40. Dominic has Mia steal the car herself, while Brian and Dominic fight Zizi and his henchmen, with Zizi killing the DEA agents assigned to the vehicles. Dominic and Brian are captured and brought to crime lord Hernan Reyes, the owner of the cars and Zizi’s boss, who orders the pair be interrogated to discover the location of the car. However, they manage to escape and retreat to their safehouse.

Dominic, Brian, and Mia are blamed for the murder of the DEA agents and U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team arrive in Rio to capture him. While Brian, Dominic and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is revealed to be working for Reyes when he removes a computer chip from the car. Dominic forces Vince to leave and, after investigating the chip, Brian discovers it contains details of Reyes’ criminal empire including the locations of $100 million in cash, and plan on stealing Reyes’ money to start a new life. The trio organize a team to perform the heist, recruiting Han, Roman, Tej, Leo, Santos, Gisele and Vince. Hobbs and his team eventually find and arrest Dominic, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them to an airport for extradition to the United States, the convoy is attacked by Reyes’ men, killing Hobbs’ team and Vince. Hobbs is saved by Dominic, Brian and Mia as they fight back against Reyes’ men and escape. Wanting revenge for their murdered team, Hobbs and Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) agree to help with the heist.

The gang breaks into the police station where Reyes’ money is kept and tear the vault from the building using their cars, dragging it through the city with police in pursuit. Believing they cannot outrun the police, Dominic makes Brian continue on without him while he attacks the police and the pursuing Reyes, using the vault attached to his car to smash their vehicles. Brian returns to kill Zizi, while Reyes is badly injured by Dominic's assault. Hobbs arrives on the scene and executes Reyes. Hobbs refuses to let the pair go free, but unwilling to arrest the team, agrees to give them a 24-hour head start to escape. The gang split Reyes' money, with Dominic leaving Vince’s share to his family, and they go their separate ways. In a post-credits scene, Hobbs is given a special file by Agent Monica Fuentes concerning the hijacking of a military convoy in Berlin. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Letty, who was presumed deceased, revealing she survived the events of Fast & Furious.

Following their successful Rio heist, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew of professional criminals have retired around the world: Dominic lives with Elena, his sister Mia (Brewster) and Brian O'Conner (Walker) had a son, collins jencarlos angel(Gadot) and Han (Kang) have moved to Hong Kong and Roman (Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) live in luxury. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and his partner Riley Hicks (Carano) investigate the destruction of a Russian military convoy, believing former British Special Forces soldier Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and his crew are responsible. Hobbs tracks down Dominic and requests his help in bringing Shaw down; Dominic agrees when Hobbs presents him with a photo of Dominic’s former girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez), whom he thought was dead. Dominic gathers his old crew together (minus Leo and Santos, who are still gambling their heist money inside Monaco casinos) and they accept the mission in exchange for full amnesty for their past crimes, which will allow them to return home to the United States; Mia and Elena remain with Jack. The crew are led to Shaw’s London hideout by one of his henchmen, but it is revealed to be a trap intended to distract the crew and police while Shaw’s crew performs a heist elsewhere. Shaw flees by car, detonating his hideout behind him and disabling most of the police, leaving Dominic, Brian, Roman, Tej, Han, Gisele, Hobbs and Riley to pursue him. Letty arrives to help Shaw, and shoots Dominic without hesitation before escaping. Back at their headquarters, Hobbs tells Dominic’s crew that Shaw is stealing components to create a Nightshade device which can disable power in an entire region; he intends to sell it to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, Shaw’s investigation into the opposing crew reveals Letty’s relationship with Dominic, but she is revealed to be suffering from amnesia. Roman, Han, Gisele, and Riley investigate a subordinate of Shaw who reveals Shaw’s connection to Arturo Braga, a drug lord imprisoned by Brian (Fast & Furious). Brian returns to the United States as a prisoner to gain access to Braga; Braga reveals that Brian will only get close to Shaw if Shaw allows it, and discloses how Letty survived the explosion that was thought to have killed her. Shaw went to finish her off but after learning that she had no memory, he took her in. Aided by a former ally in the FBI, Brian is released from prison. In London, Dominic races Letty in a street racing competition. Afterwards, the pair talk and Dominic returns her necklace. When she leaves, Shaw arrives and offers to let Dominic and his crew walk away without harm, but Dominic refuses to leave without Letty. Shaw tries to threaten Dominic by a laser aimed gunman, Hobbs also aims at Shaw. Dominic says “two-bit government hack”, repeating what Shaw called him earlier. Shaw then leaves without further incident.

Tej tracks Shaw’s next attack to a NATO Spanish military base. Shaw and his crew assault a military convoy carrying a computer chip to complete the Nightshade device. Dominic and his crew interfere, destroying the convoy while Shaw, accompanied by Letty, commandeers a tank and begins destroying cars along the highway. Roman manages to anchor his car to the tank, which Brian then pushes over a bridge, flipping the tank. Letty is thrown from the tank and Dominic risks his life to save her from falling to her death. In the aftermath, Shaw and his men are captured, but he reveals that he has kidnapped Mia. The crew are forced to release Shaw, and Riley (revealed to be working for Shaw) leaves with him; Letty chooses to remain with Dom. Shaw and his crew board a large aircraft while it is in motion on a runway while Dominic and his crew give chase. Dominic, Letty, Brian, and Hobbs board the craft; Brian rescues Mia and they escape using a car on board. The plane attempts to take off but is held down by excess weight as Han, Gisele, Roman, Tej, Brian, and Mia tether the plane to their vehicles. Gisele sacrifices herself to save Han. Letty kills Riley and both she and Hobbs leap to safety, but Dominic pursues Shaw and the computer chips. Shaw is thrown from the plane as it crashes into the ground; Dom drives one of the remaining cars through the nose of the plane and reunites with his crew, giving the chip to Hobbs to secure their amnesty.

In the aftermath, Dominic and his team return to the United States. Hobbs and Elena arrive to confirm the crew are free. Han is still reeling from Gisele’s death and decides to head to Tokyo as part of their original plan to settle down there. Before Hobbs and Elena leave, Dominic states that Elena does not have to go, but she responds saying that this is his family and the police department is her family, accepting that he chose Letty over her. As Dominic's crew gather to share a meal, Dominic asks Letty if the gathering feels familiar; she answers no, but that it feels like home.

In Tokyo, while Han is in a car chase, he is hit by an oncoming car; Han's car explodes, killing him. The other car's driver walks away from the scene and calls Dominic, leaving him a message: "You don't know me. You're about to".

Filming commenced in September 2013, with the theatrical release originally slated for July 11, 2014. Universal Pictures halted production following the death of Paul Walker on November 30, 2013. On December 22, 2013, Vin Diesel revealed the new release date to be April 10, 2015, via his Facebook account, but was moved up to the first week.

On April 15, 2014, it was confirmed that Paul Walker’s brothers (Caleb and Cody Walker) would be filling in for their brother. A statement on the film’s Facebook page said: "We have resumed shooting and now welcome Paul’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, into our FAST family. Caleb and Cody are helping us complete some remaining action for their brother and fill in small gaps left in production. Having them on set has made us all feel that Paul is with us too." The statement also went on to say: "Paul had already shot his dramatic scenes and most of his action for Fast & Furious 7, and it’s among the strongest work of his career."

Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) packs his bags and leaves Los Angeles, before the LAPD gets a chance to arrest him for letting Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) escape. While the FBI launch a national manhunt on him, Brian travels across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, winning in every street race he participates in, with his red Mitsubishi 3000GT. However, he is forced to ditch his car at a motel in Dallas when police officers are notified of his presence. When they collect the car, he manages to hitch a ride from an unknown woman, despite her knowing who he really is. She drops him at a used car lot, with him realizing she knows that he is a wanted man. There, he buys a green Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. Later, collecting money from street races, he modifies the car with new rims and repaints it silver, with blue lightning vinyls on the sides, before traveling eastbound and winning more races on the way. Upon reaching Atlanta, Georgia, Brian heads south toward Miami, Florida, where he sees Slap Jack's Toyota Supra and Orange Julius' Mazda RX-7 (both 2 Fast 2 Furious characters) before the screen reads "2 be continued…".

Leo Tego (Tego Calderón) is in a Dominican Republic prison, ranting about corporations holding back the electric car and starting wars for oil. Meanwhile, on the streets, Rico Santos (Don Omar) chats to an old man unable to find enough gas. Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang) arrives and is collected from the airport by Cara Mirtha (Mirtha Michelle) and Malo (F. Valentino Morales). They drive him back to Santos' house, where his aunt Rubia (Adria Carrasco) is struggling with rising prices linked to the cost of gasoline and Dominic is working on his car. The team then enjoy a welcome meal with the family. After breaking Leo out of prison, they head to a club, where Han and Cara flirt, while Dominic meets up with local politician Elvis (Juan Fernandez), who informs them of a window of opportunity to hijack a gasoline shipment. While relaxing at the club afterwards, Dominic is surprised by the arrival of Letty, who has tracked him from Mexico. The two drive together to the beach, where they "rekindle their relationship".

Racing Champions released diecast metal replicas of the film's cars in different scales from 1/18 to 1/64.[31]RadioShack sold ZipZaps micro RC versions of the cars in 2002.[32] 1/24 scale plastic model kits of the hero cars were manufactured by AMT Ertl. Johnny Lightning under the JL Full Throttle Brand released 1/64th and 1/24th models of the cars from Tokyo Drift. These models were designed by Diescast Hall of Fame designer Eric Tscherne. Greenlight also sold some cars from the new films from the series and some of them from the previous series.[33]